


Don't waste your whiskers on dreaming

by FernShaw



Category: Mad Rat Dead (Video Game)
Genre: Animal Death, Bittersweet Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Spoilers, Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:35:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27674113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FernShaw/pseuds/FernShaw
Summary: A story of what happens after the end of the game
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	Don't waste your whiskers on dreaming

*  
"why did you come back ..?"

"I wanted to stay with you. I couldn't leave you here, all alone."

Mad Rat was ... Pretty confused. A bit angry maybe. But mostly confused. He didn't want Heart to come back. He didn't want to risk such thing, him being in as much danger as he was in this place. That and ...

"... Are you sure you could handle seeing me die ? I really didn't want you to see such thing."

The cat snickered. 

"I'm already used to seeing you die. I think it is no big deal. Plus, it'll be worth it. I don't want to spend the rest of my life thinking about the fact that we could've spent more time together."

"... Do you think you could carry me ? I'm pretty heavy"

The cat gently grabbed the rodent to put him on his back and smiled. 

"Let's go. We don't have time to loose, once again."

The cat jumped off the table and dashed through the laboratory. Surely, this was much faster than with Rat's small body. Perhaps a little too fast 

"S-slow down idiot, I'm gonna fall at this rate !"

"Sorry ! I tend to forget , we're not the same size anymore. It's pretty weird to see you so small, to be honest."

"Well, feeling's shared. You were so small before, I could've squished with my bare hands if you weren't vital to me."

"Waaaah ! Don't squish me !"

The cat chuckled seeing the rodent pouting on his back, and continued to run, a bit slower this time, until they both got out of the lab.

"Going through the upper part of the lab wasn't a bad idea. I don't want to get through the culvert again. It was horrible and I would prefer to go back inside the lab to slap the human rather than trying that again."

"I can get why. Seeing you freak out over a doodle was pretty ridiculous."

"Y-you can't judge me, jackass, you didn't see it !! It was horrible, I'm sure anyone with a mind would've been scared !"

"Well, I would've liked to see it. It was no fun seeing that you were the only spooked over it. What did it look like ? Tell me, tell me !"

"It looked like an amalgamate of dozens of dead white rats that formed a giant rat head that was trying to devour me."

"Sounds a lot more goofy than actually scary to me."

"Stop making fun of me ! There's no way you can say it's not scary when you never saw it !!"

The duo continue to argue about any small thing possible. But even if they were disagreeing, the feeling was ... Different than before. Friendly. Kind. The two of them were happy to have each other, and wanted to make their last moments together good ones. Both were always trying to discuss new subjects, anything as long as it distracted them from the obvious truth : everything was going to end that night. And this time, there was no going back. 

The duo even ended up wandering to the forest without even noticing it. It took a while for them to understand where they were, but something definitely woke them up. A growl. A cat meowing. Heart turned around in a jump only to see that this cat was none other than ...

"It's the black cat from before ! Heart, do you think he remembers us..?"

The shadow approached the duo, sniffed Heart and licked his head gently, then stared at mad rat intensely. The rodent hugged his friend closer, still not really enjoy other cats's company. 

"He does remember us ! Well ... Not in details. I'm guessing time travel can't make everything perfect. The one thing he does remember though is that you saved him. He's still very thankful."

The black cat purred and got just a little closer to the rat. 

"Waaah !! I do appreciate the feeling too b-but back off please ! I'm still scared of you..."

The cat slowly got back to his initial position, still purring. 

"T-thank you."

"Mad Rat ... I really thought you were good with cats now ! You're not scared if me, are you ?"

"I'm not but ... You're different. You're my heart. I can't be afraid of my heart."

"Awh ... Thank you."

The two cats head-butted each other with a purr, which made the rat shiver, but he didn't say a word. He was happy with the situation. That he made a friend simply by deciding to not be cruel to someone.

Jack finally left the place, leaving the duo all alone in the forest. 

"Mad Rat, do you have any idea of what you want to do now ?"

"The kid. We're going to back to save her and after that ... I'll see. I think that's the most important thing to do."

Heart nodded and immediately started to look out for the city, roaming around the forest hoping to find out points that he could remember to find another way to go out there. Of course, they wouldn't go through the culvert again, not only because this time Heart probably wouldn't fit, but also because the water rising around would probably drown them ... And this time, no going back. 

It took quite a long time for Heart to find his path again, but once he got into the city everything became a lot more easier. 

And finally, they found her. She wasn't even on the road yet, meaning that they came a lot faster than before. Still, they had to get her attention somehow. Heart meowed once he got close enough and the small human immediately turned around with a chuckle and ran to see the two furballs. She rubbed her hands over the feline's fur, immediately causing him to purr again. He seemed to be in heaven, clearly loving to receive physical affection like that. Then she started to pet the rodent too. Mad Rat never really received affection from anyone except Heart, and was terrified to say the least. But quickly enough, he understood why his partner loved that kind of things so much. It felt good to be appreciated like that, to have such a small and stupid contact yet so rewarding. 

The three of them spent a good amount of time together, until the girl heard two other humans yelling something and headed back to them in a hurry, leaving the cat and the rat all alone in the street. After thinking a little, Mad rat finally asked the question he had in mind this whole time.

"Do you think she remembers us ?"

"I don't know. I don't speak human. But I hope so. Either way it seems like she appreciates you."

Heart sniffed around and found something on the ground. 

"Ah ! The kid dropped her cheese !"

"Welp, she ain't getting it back. I doubt she'll come back soon enough to get it, and someone will have to take it anyway."

"Do you want to eat it ?"

"Of course I do ! I didn't spend my time hallucinating about cheese only to miss an opportunity like that !"

He quickly grabbed the chunk of cheese and looked at the sky. The moon was already there. It was getting really late. 

"Mad Rat, I'm sorry I kept you here for so long ... Now it's almost time and you spent so long here because of me..."

"Heh. Don't worry, I don't blame you at all. In fact I'm quite happy. That was a good night, maybe not as active as I wanted but it was nice spending time with that girl. Plus I got to see you happy and it means the world to me."

"... Do you want to do anything now ?"

"Yeah. You know, I'd love to see the moon again, like before. It was nice. You know, you, me, a nice chunk of cheese and the moon ? That seems like a good way to go. I couldn't ask for more."

Heart nodded, this time ... A little slower. Yes, this was a happy ending. But it felt like it was ... Too soon. It hurt. The cat jumped on a nearby trashcan to try to escalate the buildings again, but not without a heavy heart and many thoughts that he would've prefered not having. 

Once on top of the building, the rat immediately hopped of his friend's back and walked towards the immense white light in the sky. It felt so much more reassuring than the cheese moon. Like a sweet little lullaby sung in the night to help people dream. He sat and simply continued to stare without a word. Heart walked towards him silently and put his body around the smaller one to give him warmth, and a feeling of protection. The lite being felt ... So fragile. So weak. Heart felt guilty for so many things. And after a good ten minutes of silence, a few sobs were heard. 

"Heart ..? Are you alright ?"

"... No. No I'm very much not alright. I feel helpless. I know you're happy right now, that you accept your fate and all but ... I wanted to do so much more. To spend days and days with you outside, I wanted you to have an actual good life ! Tonight felt ... Short." 

Mad Eat smiled a took a huge vite of his cheese. 

"You know ... I'm not a rat that lives in the streets. I probably wouldn't have survived long there. I know, it's frustrating but at least I know this will end with my favorite things around. I can and will complain. I had a shitty life, barely tasted any real food, and the only friends I got weren't here for long. But you know what ? I can't feel sad right now. Maybe I will once I meet the rat god ... The real one this time. But right now all that I can see is that in one day, I got everything I craved for all of my life. And I'm sorry if it does not satisfy you."

The cat gently licked his friend's fur and purred, even if he was still sobbing. 

"Maddy. I'm so glad you were my friend. You made me really happy too. I hope that one day I'll be able to say that I don't regret today but ... I guess it'll take me time."

"Heh. You're too impatient."

"And you are a grumpy, mean, fat little rat !"

"Hey ! What's all that about ?!"

"I gotta find you some defaults too, you know ! I can't let go of you thinking that you were perfect, little brat ! You even hit me 5 times in a row !"

"... You started it."

Both of them looked at each other and immediately started laughing with a huge smile. It felt good to say what they kept in their head for all of this time. So that's what they continued to do. They both ate the cheese together, telling each other about any thoughts they had in life. Some were stupid. Some were incredibly complicated and perhaps all for nothing. Some were funny, other depressing. But what they both knew Is that it felt good to share it with a friend. And the small being started to yawn, they both knew it was time. 

"I'm feeling tired. I don't think I'll last a lot longer."

"It's fine. Thank you for staying up so long."

The rat slowly curved himself into a ball to stick between the paws of his friend, getting a perfectly warm spot. 

"Heart ? ... Thank you for being my friend."

The cat licked gently the grey fur of his partner. 

"... You're welcome. I'm just as happy that you were mine too."

Mad rat felt a single tear leave his eye. The two beings looked at each other one last time and smiled before closing their eyes to get into a deep, deep slumber.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a pretty weird fic, since it can be considered my interpretation of the end of the game if you read only this one, but also the beginning of my fix-it AU.  
> Either way, I do hope this was how these two spent their last day together


End file.
